


Hunger Pains

by Doukz



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's, Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Angst, Fight Scene, Ghouls, Gore, Heavy Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Oneshot, gay as fuck, hunger, please dont judge me, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-26 17:11:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17145743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doukz/pseuds/Doukz
Summary: Knowing that one's humanity is gone is a deprecating and often humiliating fact that clots the mind. It polluted William's, who spent every month shoving off his hunger as best as he could. But twenty-seven days have passed, and he finally gave in again- as he always does. The half-ghoul was ready to get it over with as he met up with a stranger, until a harsh interruption showed up with her. His best friend, Henry.





	Hunger Pains

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SilvenWolf](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilvenWolf/gifts).



> Please don't judge me this was never supposed to be seen by public eyes,, I was forced to post it with the bribe of a free art request, and now I have to fulfill my end of the deal...  
> This was supposed to be a quick oneshot, but that didn't go so well, so now it's 16 pages long  
> but that means more content so you'll enjoy it if you like Tokyo Ghoul, fnaf, helium (henry/william), and angst. Which may not be many of you, but-!
> 
> Warnings:  
> -fight scene  
> -someone eating off of someone else  
> -angst  
> -cuss words  
> -gay as hell

 

                As much as he loved the seclusion that came with living by yourself in an apartment complex thirteen floors high, there were things that came with it that he just couldn’t stand. Not only did he have to go down several flights of stairs during the awfully frequent elevator breakdown, but having to use either in the first place meant he was almost always assured to have to run into someone on the way out or in. Not that he would have usually minded despite his asocial appearance, but in his current state… It was pure torture. Especially towards the end of the month.

                Right now he was due to go meet up with someone, which meant leaving his room (and cat) and using the elevator down to the main lobby. While he wanted desperately to cancel this meetup (he feared the person he was due to interact with would call it a date) he knew he had no choice but to go. Or else he might… He shook the idea from his head. Now was not the time for such intrusive thoughts!

                His phone vibrated rapidly one the small counter near him. A quick swipe of the screen revealed his alarm going off and a missed text from the person he was meeting soon… Great. He sighed before seeing what it was. ‘I’m here!~ See you soon!!’ the text read. He knew they didn’t mean any harm, but it twisted his gut. He hated this so god damn much…

                Wrapping a scarf around him and throwing on a long jacket he took his phone and keys and opened the door. His cat greeted him and rubbed his leg with a long purr before he made himself leave, shutting the door behind him quietly and locking it. The elevator was thankfully in working condition. He pushed the button to call it and began waiting, patiently… There were a lot of floors and the elevator was already slow enough as is. A glance down the hall to his left made him startle as he realized someone was coming to take the elevator as well.

                Something inside him twisted and he felt sick, but forced the feeling down as they approached quietly. If they just didn’t say anything, if they just left him alone-

                “Oh, hey neighbor!” the oddly southern voice startled him. He tried not to show his sudden aggravation at the approaching ‘friend’ of his. He knew them well enough that he should have anticipated they wouldn’t simply leave him be.

                The long sandy haired, earing filled young adult walked up to him with a well-known slouch, hands shoved in the pockets of his baggy pants and a large plad jacket thrown over his back. His eyes were always lidded and his usual slight smile plastered on his face. For a moment the thought of just offing this kid and calling it a night came to mind, but he shoved it away furiously. He hated those thoughts the most.

                “Hello.” He replied monotonously, pulling his scarf over his mouth and trying to show how disinterested in conversation he was. The lanky guy clearly didn’t get it as he walked right up to the taller man and waved.

                “So… Goin’ out t’night?” his accent annoyed the man to no end.

                “…Yes, it would seem so.” He replied, annoyance trickling into his voice.

                “Cool. I ‘ave an’ appointment with a few guys… If ya know what I mean.” The guy nudged with a wink.

                “John, how many times have I told you I don’t need to know your private life?” our main character mumbled, clearly annoyed at this point. John shrugged, smirk still clear on his face, if not wider now.

                “I ‘unno. Jus’ tryina lighten the mood I reckon.” He replied smoothly. The guy didn’t have it in him to tell John he was failing miserably.

                “Well, good shot, but I’m not able to be cheered up tonight. Bills and… Work… And… Ghouls.” He stated slowly, mulling over how each one didn’t really matter to him. The latter did but… That wasn’t the point. Not for John, anyways.

                “Oh. Oh, uh… Oops.” John reacted as he’d expected. The young adult was used to him acting cold every now again (though he still didn’t know why) so he was thankful when he backed off.

                Besides, the elevator was opening. Someone shuffled out, and the two entered. No one else was in there, and the ride was a slow quiet one to the lobby. The taller man gave a few sidelong glances at John, who was already busy on his phone and seemingly over the conversation.

                As the metal doors opened he moved to leave immediately. John exited as well, but moved to go in a different direction. John waved goodbye at him eagerly.

                “See ya later, mister Afton! Hope ya feel better!” he called out before turning to leave his own way. William (aka mister Afton) gave the slightest wave back before turning to leave. John was a good kid but damn, he would never get over not calling him just ‘Will’. The doors slid open as he left into the colder air. It was already late, but darker than usual due to the overcast- and drizzle. Unlike other people, he liked the rain, so he didn’t bother covering his head with his scarf as he walked down the street.

                Tokyo was a vast city full of tall buildings and busy streets. He’d grown long used to it since he and his friend’s family had moved here, back when things were better. Now it was just him and his friend, and this new person who wouldn’t matter for much longer. Besides, his Japanese was rusty at best so he preferred to not have to talk to strangers much- even if they were clearly English speaking.

                The location he was meeting this person was only a few blocks away so he tried to enjoy the walk while it lasted. His pace was unnaturally fast. It was easy to mask now, but he flinched when he actually thought about how long it’d been since…  He was in a lot of pain right now and pondering the thought only made it more intense. But it would be over soon, thank god.

                Only a block away now, he could spot the sign of the place glowing at the end of the street.

                ‘With Bunny’ café, the sign read. It sounded like it should be cute, but he didn’t plan on eating from it. Not unless they served coffee… Which he would probably decline anyways. It might make things worse.

                “On the rise, Tarissa here is going to talk to you about the potential rise of ghouls.” The words caught him off guard for a second. Slowing down he turned to look into a window full of high definition screens, one placed in the center. They all played the same channel.

                The screen flipped to show a blonde woman in a business outfit, standing outside a building with caution tape strung across the entrance. All of the windows looked cracked or outright shattered.

                “Yes, as you can see there’s been damage done to this building. People recorded heavy damage to the area being done by two ghouls last night- no pedestrians were hurt directly, but one was sent to the hospital from the windows shattering. Eye witnesses say these two are new, which would add to the spike in ghoul populations this year to a 5% increase. People are concerned that the CCG is not doing their job-“

                “Fuck the CCG.” William growled from under the scarf before moving on. The rest of the news report was useless to him. Those ‘new’ ghouls were two assholes he vaguely recognized, and he didn’t bother trying to understand what they had gotten into a fight over now. He was more surprised by how they hadn’t gotten on the news before now- or hunted down yet.

                Outside the Bunny café he noticed the hardly familiar face of the person he was meeting- was her name Cassandra? Maybe Cassie, or Casey, or Kathryn. She was talking to someone- maybe a friend? Will desperately hoped they’d be parting ways soon so he could get this over with, without a bloodier scene.

                That was until he noticed the ‘friend’. His mind wanted to shut down.

                The blonde, Cassandra, turned around to see William approaching slowly. She immediately smiled and waved cheerily, her ponytail bouncing on her back slightly. Her friend looked pleasantly surprised at the familiar face as he himself walked up behind her to greet him.

                “Great! We’re both early!” the blonde yipped joyfully. God, he had no idea how someone could be so chipper, it exhausted him to be around these kinds of people. A dull ache erupting throughout his body reminded him that he didn’t have a choice now.

                “Yeah- and I uh, see you met Henry-“ he hardly had time to finish his sentence before the other guy was immediately talking.

                “Yeah! Casey-“ oh, her name was Casey, “- here saw me the other day and remembered me from a while back- we’re friends, and when she mentioned you she thought she would take me along! Since I… Well… Know you.” His sentence ended on a shyer note. William couldn’t help but huff with what he could muster as a small laugh in the cold rain. Casey had a brightly colored umbrella over her head that Henry was currently ducked under.

                “That’s fine. Great, in fact.” He replied, but his teeth were gritted. This was literally the worst thing that could’ve happened and his mind was already racing for a way to get out of here, but he forced himself to keep up a pleasant act until either Henry left or some other poor fool was left alone with him.

                The pain was becoming hard to bear at this point, so he quickly motioned for the two to go inside, holding open the door. Henry stopped right by Will as Casey went in, already looking for a place to sit. He cast a worried stare at his best friend- who couldn’t even look him back in the eyes.

                “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I hope you don’t mind me coming.” He said eventually. “You know I don’t like to invite myself-“

                “Of course you’re fine, I j-just,” a painful shudder erupted down his spine. Hunger pangs. “I just wanted to meet her, get to know her. Make sure she was… Heh, good enough for you.”

“Well, funny thing-“

“I’d love to chat, but we have a guest to keep company.” Will interrupted as he gently pushed his friend into the café. For a second he felt nausea take over and almost doubled over, but stopped himself. He couldn’t be suspicious- anything off about him and he could blow his cover.

                The two met Casey at a booth, sitting beside each other on the opposite end. Casey was already perusing the menu, and Will decided to do the same. Henry looked on with him since he lacked one of his own.

                There was coffee, more coffee, flavored coffee… He wasn’t in the mood. The hunger pangs were almost bad he almost didn’t want to eat- but that would be suicide, so he’d just do something else later. He passed it onto Henry, who clearly still hadn’t decided what he wanted. After a few minutes someone came and took Casey and Henry’s orders and left.

                It hurt.

                But he tried to ignore it.

                “So, you two… Know each other now?” Will asked slowly. He wasn’t really interested in anything he said, but he had to admit he was slightly curious nonetheless. Henry nodded.

                “She saw me at the store the other day and decided to say hi- it turns out we all actually went to the same college.” He replied. Casey hummed in reply.

                “Yep! And since he mentioned knowing you and I was meeting you, we talked about it and decided he should come too!” she added excitedly. Will shifted around in the seat, planting his elbows on the table to get more comfortable.

                “Oh? Then you know why I wanted to meet up with you in the f-“

                “which is not important!” Henry cut into William’s sentence, clasping his hands over his friend’s mouth instantly. “Plans have changed!”

                Casey was confused, but she giggled along nonetheless. Will glared at Henry, but didn’t do anything but cautiously take his arms and push them away. “Anyways…”

 

 

                The order had come and the three had been left in mostly silence the whole time. He noticed Henry kept glancing at him worriedly, although Casey seemed fine. The pain had gotten worse- the people around him were-

                Shut up. He needed some air, is all. He pondered it for a moment, before deciding the best thing he could do is play it off. He was about to kill someone right here right now if he didn’t fucking-

                “I’ll be right back!” Will quickly got up and shuffled for his phone. “I just… Remembered I have to make a call to work really quickly I’ll be right back-“he turned and immediately left. Henry cast a concerned glance at Casey. “We’ll… Give him a few minutes.” He decided. “Then I’ll go check on him.”

                William found an exit to the alley beside the café and threw it open as he fled the building. Shit, he just needed air- that was all. Just a few minutes to breathe away from all those people. His entire body was swarming with pain- he reminded himself that he deserved that. He’d lasted, what- twenty seven days? He knew he’d counted but right now he lost his grip on his memory. It was hard to focus on anything when you were literally starving to the point of dying.

                God fucking damn it, why had he waited this long?! He knew the consequences and yet here he was- in a worse situation than he’d anticipated. Letting out a shaky sigh he dropped onto a bench. He held his head in his hands and suppressed another shiver. He could sm- sense the people in the café. Will knew the physical indications of a ghoul and at this point, he knew his eye must be looking fucked up right now. His racing mind sent a piercing pain through his skull- he didn’t have much longer to wait.

                No. He wouldn’t go back in there. Had it been up to him he would lay down and starve to death right here, right now. But he knew in a little while that he wouldn’t be able to do that, either.

                The door he’d come out of jingled as it was opened. Will immediately snapped towards the source of the sound to find Henry stepping outside cautiously. He immediately looked away and fumbled in his pocket for his phone to make it seem like he’d been calling someone after all, but he knew that wasn’t going to work when he heard Henry sit down beside him on the bench.

                He did his best to cover up his ghoulish eye as he still faced away from Henry. Said person put a hand on Will’s shoulder as if to assert his presence. A moment of silence passed between them before Henry finally spoke up.

                “I came to check on you, our friend in there’s getting almost as worried as I am.” He joked. William could only muster a weak huff.

                “I’m fffine. I just need a minute.” He replied, trying not to hiss in pain. His head hurt, his body hurt, everything hurt.

                “Look, I know you’re not a social butterfly, but you’ve never freaked out this bad.” Henry’s voice was laced with more than worry. It both angered and saddened him when he realized he was going to try and probe at what was wrong so he could help. William shifted around on the bench, but didn’t move. He couldn’t move. Nor did he respond, because right now he couldn’t think of anything he could say to get his friend off his back.

                “Will, please look at me.” Henry said after a few moments of silence between them. “Please. I can’t talk to the back of your head, it’s awkward.”

                There was a sigh from both of them. But William finally gave in, holding his right eye hopefully inconspicuously as he looked at Henry… Sort of. Just enough to maintain eye contact. He smiled weakly in hopes of telling Henry ‘I’m fine’, but the other man didn’t seem to take it.

                “What’s going on?” his best friend asked. He sounded desperate.

                William shook his head slowly. What was he supposed to say? “N-Nothing-“ he managed as another jolt of pain shot through his head and down his spine. “Nothing.” That was a shitty lie and he knew that Henry knew it.

                “You sound like you’re dying, Will. That’s not nothing.” Henry said. He let out a long, tired sigh. “I’m glad I came with Casey tonight- you’re an absolute wreck.” He mumbled as he reached for William’s hands. Will hadn’t had time to react before he heard a horrified gasp from Henry. Why was he- oh right. Oh shit, he just uncovered his ghoul eye fuck-

                William immediately scrambled farther down the bench from Henry, who was frozen. He was trying to process what was going on.

                “I sh-should have left earlier, I’ll leave now I’m sorry-“Will moved to get up and leave. He needed to get out of there now before Henry called the cops-

                “Wait, don’t go!” he found his friend pulling down on his sleeves. He was too weak to fight back, so he ended up back on the bench without much force.

                “I don’t… I, uh,” Henry clearly hadn’t thought about what he was going to say after that, suddenly realizing he was forcing a ghoul to sit by him, “Why are you.. In pain?” he found the words to form the best question he could right now.

                William didn’t answer immediately. He was both shocked that he wasn’t having to run right now and a bit too exhausted to think fast enough to react properly. He eventually shook his head in response. He couldn’t think of an excuse, and since Henry knew now… He had no choice but to press his luck.

                “… It’s been twenty seven days.” He muttered. Will really had no intention of explaining that to Henry. But instead of being asked about it his friend gripped Will’s jacket sleeves harder. Tears pricked at the edge of his eyes- he knew what William had meant.

                “Why?!” his friend’s voice suddenly rose. “Why did you- why are you- you can’t just starve yourself like this!” Henry wanted to yell at him, he could tell, but he couldn’t. Not in this situation. Will didn’t respond. His eyes drifted down to the concrete ground. Henry lost his grip on Will when he didn’t respond.

                “Why… You can’t try to… Wait.” A foreboding thought popped into his friend’s mind. “Were you trying to?” he asked. Will almost had half a mind to ask what, but he knew exactly what Henry meant. And he couldn’t answer that question. Had he been trying to starve himself to death? He knew every cycle he was definitely pressing his limits more and more, but he had thought of it has more of saving more people than trying to end himself. Not that the thought hadn’t come across his mind before, he had dwelled on it but…

                He didn’t answer. Henry let out a long shaky sigh as he cast a sad glance at his friend.

                “How bad do you hurt now then?” he asked.

                “A lot.” William shrugged.

                “A lot isn’t a good enough answer.” Henry reached up and lifted Will’s head to look at him. He finally rose his eyes up to meet his friend’s.

                “William, I swear to god, if you don’t do something I will make you do something.” Henry stated with what sounded like renewed motivation.

                “You know what you’re pushing me to do, right?” William found himself countering.

                “I- Look.” Henry let out a shaky breath. “You’re a ghoul. I know what ghouls have to do to survive. I’m pushing you to survive.”

                William opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out. He had a point, after all. He could feel the tears pricking at his eyes already- at this point, he didn’t have a choice. And Casey was… He couldn’t kill her now. She was Henry’s friend and he… William wanted to jump off a roof right then. He was cornered!

                “I was… Planning on it, you know.” William said quietly. Henry gave him a confused look. “Casey was… I didn’t know you knew her.” He moved his head away from Henry’s hands (who wasn’t sure how to react) and looked pointedly away from him. “Sorry.”

“Oh. I uh… Oh god. No, I’m sorry, shit- I uh... Oh god.” Henry stared at Will. He almost couldn’t see his expression but he knew he fucked up bad coming along. Another moment of silence thickened the air between them.

                “What are you going to do now?” he was almost afraid to ask.

                “I don’t… Know. I’ve waited as long as I can. I’ll have to think of something, maybe… I’ll have to risk it and grab something from-“ it was at that moment Will suddenly doubled over. He made awful gagging noises like something wanted to be thrown up, but nothing came out. It took a while for him to recover, but when he did, the wispy glowing tendrils around him sent his mind into an immediate panic attack.

                “Shit, shit I’m sorry- fuck-“ he hardly managed to apologize between coughs as he expelled his kagune. He expected Henry to have been against the bench, or as far away as possible anyways, but when he glanced in his direction he was still there.  It twisted his gut to see a look of pity written on his face.

                “Don’t look at me like that, I’m fine.” He growled impatiently, still making sure the kagune was completely gone. Henry put a hand on William’s shoulder abruptly, causing the man to nearly pull away.

                “Do you think you could even last until you could properly… you know…” Henry asked quietly.

                “Of course I could- I mean- sure, of course I can. It won't be that hard, I'm.. Fine." he nodded, retracting himself from Henry and getting up. William brushed himself off before casting a sad glance at Henry.

                "God, I'm sorry you had to see... This. I-"

                "Shut up, I'm mad at you for not telling me sooner." Henry interrupted him. "I'm- I'm just in shock right now. I can't be scared of you, you're too im- you've never done anything to me. I'm not happy that you didn't trust me enough to tell me, though." he crossed his arms in a pouting motion.

                William let out a tired sigh. "I know." he flinched as he replied. "I should... Go."

                Henry glanced up at him for a second before getting up as well and advancing towards the man. Will moved to step away but before he could even properly place his foot down Henry had enveloped him in a tight embrace, hugging him. "Goodnight. I'll help you and keep Casey occupied." he mumbled quietly. William didn't return the hug, but mulled over the thought of Henry, and then their friend. Poor girl, he had been going to kill her, and now he felt like utter shit for it. She didn't deserve it...

                As Henry finally released the hug, against his better judgement William turned around to leave without saying a word. He glanced at Henry before taking a step, and...

                "Just going to leave without saying a word?" someone said. He didn't recognize the voice. Will whipped around to see Henry, still standing there, but equally confused. Then, an immensely worried expression grew on his friend's face- and his own. If someone just spoke, then-

                A figure began to step out from around the corner of the building. They had been tucked into a little alleyway, and were cloaked. They had a black trench coat and boots, and a mask that was completely overshadowed by a hood. William immediately summoned his Kagune as the figure continued to step forward.

                "Who the fuck are you?" he asked through gritted teeth. Henry's eyes were focused on them, but he was frozen. In a split second the other figure had summoned their own kagune, long spindly spines not unlike Will's. One was launched towards Henry, who hadn't the reaction time to move out of the way. Will sent his own to deflect theirs. He succeeded, but his kagune was brittle and shattered. He flinched as the pain sent a shiver up his spine. He stood his ground, though.

                "It's not really your business knowing my name." the voice repeated. It was feminine. Upon closer inspection to the approaching figure, William could see that she had a Binkaku. The three, long tails waved in the air, twitching at the fight.

                "It's not your business to be here." Will replied sharply. The ghoul in front of him stopped, tilting her head.

                "Hmm. Are you... Sure?" she asked slowly. When he didn't reply, clearly confused, she cleared her throat. "This is MY territory, asshole. And you're hunting on it." she growled. Her mask became clearer to see- a muzzled creature, eyes closed and teeth bared behind the muzzle.

                William suddenly became acutely aware of the situation, and the fact that he had no protection whatsoever. Not from his identity, or from his Kagune- it was brittle- he was weak. Henry rushed behind him.

                "I'm not- I wasn't going to-" he sputtered before coughing. Everything hurt. His head was pounding particularly heavily right now.

                The ghoul snickered. "Of course you weren't." she huffed. William looked up to see she was within three yards of him.

                "S-Stay the fuck away." he warned.

                "Look here, friend." she replied immediately. "You've broken the rules. Either you can give up your little friend here, or I can kill you and then rip him from you myself." her voice lowered to a menacingly low level. William tsked, stepping back. He wanted to tell Henry to get inside the coffee shop, but he knew he would be dead before he made it.

                "I'm not here to pick a fight." he replied. William knew there was no way out of a fight, but he had to exhaust his resources or else he felt he'd have no chance whatsoever.

                "You already did, when you walked into this alley."

                "William, what are we going to do?" Henry whispered behind him. "I don't know what to do." he added.

                "Tell your little snack to shut up-"

                "He is NOT food!" William snarled, quickly interrupting her. She stopped, nearly a yard from him. Crossing her arms, the masked ghoul sighed. She waited a moment, mulling over her words carefully as she stood there. The ghoul knew they had the upper hand, and showed it as she took her time.

                "You really are a stupid fool for that. Most ghouls learn their lesson shortly after making friends- clearly you haven't learnt yours." she spoke slowly, words dripping with poison. Shit, he was dead. William knew it- he and Henry were dead. She would enjoy every second of tearing them both apart.

                "Idiots like you deserve to be taught a lesson. I'm not going to kill you- I'm going to beat to an inch of your life, not that it'll be hard, and then I'll take your friend and kill him." she ended the sentence with a newfound energy, as though she was getting fired up just thinking about it. William braced himself for the fight.

                "You'll have to tear him from my cold dead hands."

                "I don't think I'll have to." she sneered. All three of her spines whipped forward. William shoved Henry out of the way as he deflected them, all but one of his own tendrils shattering. She stepped to the side as he sent one of his stronger ribbons shooting towards her. The larger of her kagune slammed down on it, pieces breaking and fizzling away. He was starved and she was taking full advantage of it.

                William just barely dodged her next attack. He was completely grounded, but she had the leverage of not being weak- and soon ended up jumping over him. He managed to cut into her coat with one sliver as her kagune was focused on propelling her, but she swiped it out of the way, effectively destroying half of it. She landed a foot away from him and immediately shoved him away. Her three spines collided into each other and formed one large scorpion-esque tail lingering above her head.

                Now that she was inbetween him and Henry his anxiety began to spike profusely. He sidestepped to try and get around her as she turned to look at Henry. William used his half-tendril to shoved her away from him. She scowled, using her larger tail to send him flying across the alley. He crashed into a trash can, the sound sickening. He didn't get back up.

                The enemy ghoul walked up to him slowly, scanning his body. William still kept his kagune summoned as a way to show that he definitely was still alive, and still pissed as he glared at her. Blood began to leak from his nose.

                She tsked in a disappointed fashion as she felt someone brush past her. Henry was rushing to William, but she separated her kagune and used one to hold him back.

                "Your type are always so stupid." she muttered.

                William rose his head to glare further at her. "Which one?" he tried to smile, wincing.

                "Both of you. Humans and half-ghouls are so pathetic..." her sentence trailed off. William wasn't sure if he had the strength to fight her still, but he glanced at Henry with a look that told him to get the fuck back in case something happened. The muzzled ghoul began to trace her kagune down his jacket sleeve, pressing down in it. The sharp, jagged ends cut into the sleeves effortlessly. He felt his skin slit by it without hardly any effort being put in. He couldn't do much more than grimace as new blood poured down his arms.

                "You half-and-half bastards always think you can coexist. Well I've news for you-" her kagune pushed deeper into his flesh- "it never works out." her spines latched onto his skin and in an instant he was pulled from his spot on the ground and out in the alley. She retracted the kagune, sending him landing on the cold ground.

                "You think that you can still live some semblance of a normal life." her voice was so monotonous Will wondered if she might be reminiscing. "But it doesn't work like that."

                Sucking in his breath painfully, he mumbled "are you done yet?"

                He heard her step beside him, still sprawled out on the ground. Hardly opening his eyes to a mere squint, he saw her kagune sway behind her before slowly worming its way around his neck. 'Oh fuck, I'm done for good now' he thought sourly. Henry, who hadn't interfered more, inhaled sharply as he saw William lifted off the ground by the kagune.

                Will sputtered out blood as he dangled, hardly able to breathe.

The other two spines swayed at the ghoul's side as she contemplated his fate. "I've done what I said. You're nearly dead- you can't do anything." she stated. "I could easily stab your friend and be on my way, couldn't I."

                William couldn't answer.

                "You could, but will you?" Henry finally spoke up. The ghoul looked over her shoulder at him, mulling over his statement.

                "Maybe. You couldn't stop me."

                "I couldn't." he nodded. He was a little lost in the thought- he couldn't. As far as he was concerned he was nothing to this ghoul but a means to an end. This is where it would end.

                "But I have a better idea." the ghoul eventually stated. She slowly uncurled the kagune around Will's neck until he was loose enough to drop to the floor, limp.

                "I'm going to leave you two here." she seemed content with the decision. Henry was shocked- she was going to leave them, just like that?? As the hooded ghoul began to walk away, Kagune completely retracted, he dashed for William's body. Thankfully he was still breathing, but hardly.

                "Th... Thank you." Henry thanked the ghoul. She hummed in response. "You'll regret it later."

                The man stood there for a second, unsure of how to respond. He shook his head and resumed his attention on Will as she disappeared from where she came from. It was sad how little effort it took him to hold the dead weight up. He was nearly completely gone- she was right, she had beaten him to an inch of his life.

                "H-Hey, William- stay awake- please..." He held his friend's head up. He tried to respond, eyes weakly open, but ended up sputtering out blood instead. His kagune was fizzling away the second- not retracting. It was as if it was decaying. William finally coughed up enough blood to be able to speak, looking towards Henry with a terribly false sly smile. Blood trickled down his nose and mouth as he smiled.

                "I'm wide awake, don't worry." he replied quietly.

                "You hardly look it!" Henry snapped loudly, losing his cool. He was panicking. "L-Look, Will. I've gotta find you someone, or something, you can't even move on your own-"

                "Don't bother." William interrupted hoarsely. "Please don't bother. I'm... In no position to be killing anything now. And I-" he coughed- "am never letting you see that shit for yourself."

                Henry glared down at him, tears welling in his eyes. "Like hell I'm not gonna bother!" he argued. "I'm- I'm going to fucking save your ass if it's the last damn thing I do." his voice cracked as he held his bloody friend. William let out an uneven, tired sigh.

                "Good luck." he replied. He clearly didn't see the possibility of getting better now, and it made Henry seethe with anger. His mind raced to find something that could help his friend... He mulled over the thought. He needed to eat- that would help, right? Ghouls ate human flesh- Okay, he needed to find human flesh. How the fuck was he supposed to do that?! Henry could hardly find it in himself to lie to people, much less lead them to their death... And he knew he couldn't do that to Casey no matter how much he cared about William. She didn't deserve it. Unless someone happened to be in the alley to help William now-

                The thought dawned on him. Henry grimaced as he felt his chest tighten at the realization, and for a second he considered swatting it away. But a glance at William's dying body and horribly black, ghoulish eye reminded him he had a very, very limited amount of time to help him. Sucking in his breath, he asked, "how much would a little flesh help you?"

William flashed Henry a dark look. He contemplated whether to answer, before deciding to, slowly, "I could... Probably live off of th-that for a day until I could.. Find something better." he grimaced. It was hard to talk with blood in your mouth. He slumped against Henry. His ghoulish eye 'flared' up more, but he could at least sit up by himself now.

                Henry sighed, hugging him close against his body.

                "Alright, I have a plan."

                "H-Hhhow would you-" William tried to respond with sarcasm, but he stopped and winced in pain. Henry felt prompted to continue when he didn't speak up again.

                "Y-You're- oh god- okay. You can't say no, okay?" He said. Henry could only guess how Will would react to this.

                William would've sent a daring glare at Henry had he been able to look up. Instead, he muttered something that sounded like "bloody hell".

Henry cleared his throat. "Okay, you're not gonna like it," he warned once more before continuing, "but you're going to live."

                Will didn't respond that time.

                "Y-You're going to have to feed off of me-"

                "Hhhhell no-"

                "Don't interrupt me damnit! If you want to live I can't see any other options." Henry hissed through his gritted teeth.

                "I'd rather die than r-risk anything." Will mumbled.

                "Well I want you to live, so you're going to fucking eat off of my arm or I swear to god I will shove my fucking arm down your stupid throat." Henry bit back. He didn't mean to be so snappy, but his best friend was on the verge of dying and his life was quite literally in his hands. You couldn't really blame the man for being sensitive ):

                William groaned some sort of curse in reply, refusing to budge.

                "You're too weak to fight. All you have to do is take a small, hopefully very small chunk out of my arm. I've got enough skin to go around." Henry tried to lighten the mood as an apology, but it didn't seem to work. Instead, he found that he had to move William around himself until he was facing his arm, although his head was down.

                "Just. Just try okay? I promise I won't let you kill me." he said, in a softer tone.

                William's head rose to look at Henry's arm, his body seemed to sway with some sort of nausea before he looked down again.

                Henry huffed impatiently. "P-Please. I promise I'll hit you in the head if you start something weird. Just... Get it over with." he insisted. "And I'll uh, tell you a secret, okay? It was... Just between me and Casey but, I'll let you in on it."

                The bloody and bruised man sitting in front of him didn't move for a second. For a moment Henry thought he'd have to force his friend to move, until he heard him let out a blood infused cough before nodding weakly.

                "Ffffine... But you owe me that secret." William muttered finally. Henry let out a both relieved and anxious sigh, preparing his arm for this. It was his dominant arm/hand, but it was also his most pain tolerant, so he figured he didn't have much of a choice. Hugging William closer, who hadn't reacted much beyond a grimace, he closed his eyes.

It took everything in him to not pull away when you felt a very sudden, very heavy pressure on his arm. It grew and grew until he could hardly bear it- in only a moment he could feel blood trickling down his arm. Will had actually done it. Despite himself he smiled. Albeit it was a pained smile, but an almost genuine one nonetheless. And the paint was becoming somehow manageable.

                That was, until he felt his skin suddenly... Tearing. Oh god, he could hardly handle it- his skin burned. He'd never felt such an immense feeling of wanting it to 'just end' until he felt blood pouring down his arm as a chunk of his flesh was ripped from his arm. He was about to pass out he swore-

                "I'm sorry." William interrupted his thoughts. Henry didn't realize tears had been falling from his face almost as much as the blood on his arm was until he blinked away the blurriness in his vision to look back at his best friend.

                "O-Okay." he whimpered. William looked away as he suddenly hugged Henry's neck.

                "I can tell that fucking hurt, you don't have to act tough." he mumbled into his friend, who had tensed up momentarily from the contact again.

                "I know.. You're alright now? You can talk and walk and stuff-"

                "Yes, please stop worrying about me. And you- you owe me a secret." William demanded suddenly. He didn't move to look William in the face. He figured William wouldn't look very... Presentable...

                "What sec- oh. Right, heh... Well, you see..." Henry's voice drifted off. When William didn't respond he cleared his throat and continued.

                "Um, well, when I was talking to Casey-" he stopped to wince. His wound fucking burned like hell... He closed his eyes as he resumed, "-we got to talking. And I was talking about you to her, and she just nodded along- not saying anything really- and then I um, mentioned something a bit personal?" he stopped, sucking in a shaky breath. William gave him time to recover. "Do I really have to say it right now? I can.. Hardly think."

                William shifted around slightly. "Yeah. It'll be more straight to the point then. Sorry again." he apologized at the end. Henry shook his head.

                "Don't. I'll take it as some sort of punishment for saving y-your life." Henry laughed. He waited a moment before continuing. "A-Anyways, she was interested, and mentioned she'd be... Meeting you to get to know you. She said I should come along so she could- um-" he stopped, but it wasn't just to stop himself from whining from the literal hole in his arm. A few moments passed before he finished, "she was... Going to try to hook us up."

                William immediately pulled away from Henry to look him dead in the eyes. He semi-regretted it when he saw the oddly horrified but mostly embarrassed look on his friend's face at the blood stained around his mouth.

                "Excuse me what?" he asked sharply, and Henry's breath hitched.

                "I-I mean um, what I'm t-trying to say is-"

                "No, no, I think I got it. You're trying to say you have a crush on me, right after I bit an entire chunk of your arm off."

                Henry wanted to shrink into a ball in a corner and stop existing. He was right and he hated it.

                "N-Yes, I mean- not like that but-" he couldn't finish his sentence without his face turning incredibly red.

                "Henry, you have the shittiest taste in everything." William commented. Henry shoved his face into his hands.

                "You're not m-making this any better!" he whined. Will finally found it in himself to laugh- it was small and weak but Henry perked up nonetheless.

                "You know you could've just told me that, right?" his friend said, his tone finally light. He didn't know quite how to react.

"Well, yeah, but... I didn't think you'd, yknow..."

                "Why do you think I drag myself out of bed and over to 'eat' dinner at your house everyday, you dork." he pulled Henry's face up one of his hands as he struggled to wipe off some of the blood from his face with the other. Just to, yknow, look better.

                "Oh, well I... So you?"

                "Yes, I like you. It was pretty obvious." William smiled weakly. Henry's face was red, he couldn't handle this and his arm right now.

                "I-! I- Wow I- ah, Casey was right, thank god." Henry couldn't help but smile. He was in a lot of pain but wow that made his day 10x better.

                "I can't believe you like a ghoul." William muttered.

                "Well, I mean, I don't mind." Henry replied. "I mean- as long as y-you don't, yknow- have to do this often." he held his wound with his hand, frowning.

                William let out a defeated sigh, getting up and brushing himself off. "Trust me, I won't let it happen again. Or I'll... Try not to. Not like this." he held out a hand for Henry, who took it. He flinched as he stood up, realizing just how stiff he was now.

                Wrapping an arm around Henry's shoulder to help keep him aware (the blood loss looked pretty bad), he and his (more than) best friend began to walk out of the aisle. "I'll walk you home, hm?"

                "Y-Yeah, I'd like that." Henry replied. "What are we going to do about Casey?"

                "Casey? Oh. She can wait."


End file.
